


Will You Be My Valentine?

by therestisjustconfetti



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, I just wanted to write something that made me feel all warm and fuzzy, One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, a valentine's day blind date with a very happy ending, there is no limit to how many times we can watch these two fall for each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29209011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therestisjustconfetti/pseuds/therestisjustconfetti
Summary: A blind date on Valentine's Day. An undeniable connection. A whole lot of happiness.
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 25
Kudos: 162





	Will You Be My Valentine?

**Author's Note:**

> Not a whole lot to say about this one. It's just a whole lot of fluff and I wanted to write something short and sweet. Hope this brings a little light to your day. x

Dani paces outside of a small Italian restaurant as couples enter and exit, lovingly embracing one another as they do. The smell of delicious food wafts out onto the street each time the door opens and she hugs herself tightly wondering why the hell she ever agreed to this whole plan in the first place. A blind date on fucking Valentine’s Day? Is she crazy or just desperately alone? Who goes on a blind date on what’s meant to be the most romantic date night of the year? She does, apparently, and now she’s trying to decide if she wants to take a damn leap for once in her life and walk inside or follow her flight instinct and flee in the opposite direction. 

A car alarm goes off up the road and the sound pulls her from her thoughts just enough to make her stop pacing and stare at the entrance. She can barely see in through the small front window, slightly frosted over from the chilly London February weather and she wonders where her date might be sitting and waiting for her. 

What if she’s wonderful and kind? What if she’s boring and self-centered? What if...what if...what if. So many what if’s that she’ll only be able to discredit if she takes a deep breath, stands up tall, and walks through the door to find the woman whose name she knows is Jamie. Jamie had made the reservation so all Dani needed to do was walk inside, give her name, and be led to a table. So, she looks over her outfit once more, brushes some hair out of her face, and walks inside. 

The interior of the restaurant is exactly what she expected of an Italian bistro. Lit candles on each table, servers walking around carrying overly priced bottles of wine, beautiful bouquets of flowers placed very deliberately throughout the space. It’s excruciatingly romantic and if she weren’t so damn nervous about the whole thing she might be able to enjoy it a little more. 

Valentine’s Day for Dani was never special. She would get some grocery store flowers, a box of mediocre chocolates, and maybe a meal at the nicest restaurant in town which compared to the one she’s standing in now was basically a diner.

Dani approaches the hostess desk and gives Jamie’s name and the woman leads her through the restaurant, weaving between tables, and Dani’s heart pounds in her chest the whole way. She doesn’t know why she’s so anxious. Well, that’s not true. She hadn’t been on a date with anyone in years and dating women was still so new to her.

When Rebecca had proposed the idea, mentioning in a casual conversation that she had a friend Dani might like, a female friend, Dani’s initial response had been a hard no. A very hard no. If only Rebecca weren’t so bloody convincing. If only she had been able to keep lying to herself about being fine with the quiet and boring life she had made for herself since coming to England.

“She’s lovely,” Rebecca had said. “She really is. She’s funny, kind, and...I might have already mentioned you to her when we had lunch the other day.”

“Rebecca! What the hell?” Dani didn’t know how to respond and Rebecca had simply shrugged, a proud grin on her face. 

“She said she’d love to take you out but the next night she’s free is February 14th.”

Dani’s eyes had widened and she shook her head. “No. No way. You expect me to go on a blind date on Valentine’s Day? You’ve got to be kidding. The whole thing has disappointment written all over it and by the end of it we’ll both be miserable, admit that it was a total mistake, say goodbye and never see each other again.”

“Dani.” Rebecca’s gaze had softened and she put her hand on Dani’s arm. “I can see how hard it’s been for you here on your own. You’re trying your best but I don’t know why you think you don’t deserve to be happy or why you think you need to be alone? You deserve to be happy. Truly happy. You both do. What’s the worst that could happen?”

A handful of different worst-case scenarios had played through Dani’s mind during the days leading up to the date but what she didn’t think, something she never thought of, is what would happen if the date went well. 

“Your table ma’am,” the hostess says and when she steps aside, Dani sees Jamie for the first time and her heart skips a beat. 

Rebecca had told her next to nothing about Jamie and she had definitely failed to mention just how attractive she is. When Jamie looks up and smiles at her, there are suddenly butterflies floating around inside of Dani’s stomach and she swallows a lump that has formed in her throat. It’s a completely unexpected reaction and now she wishes she had spent less time thinking about all the negatives she might face and a little more time on the positives that could come from the evening. The woman sitting at the table has short brown hair - loose curls landing at her shoulders that are pinned back behind her ear on the right side and her eyes are bright, a combination of light blue and green and they stand out even in the somewhat dimly lit space.

“Dani?” Jamie stands from her seat at the table as the hostess walks away. 

“Jamie, hi. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry if I...if I kept you waiting.” Dani knows full well that she had kept her waiting as she stood outside alone in the cold working through her thoughts. She feels a little foolish now as she stands a foot away from the woman, much more at ease than she had been even just moments ago as she walked through the restaurant. 

“All good,” Jamie responds, the smile still on her face. “Here, let me get that for you.”

She rounds the table and pulls out Dani’s chair, something that takes Dani by complete surprise. 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that…”

“I want to.”

The corner of Dani’s lips curl up into a smile and she sets her purse down beside the bottom of the table and takes off her jacket, draping it on the back of the seat that Jamie is standing behind. She sits down and Jamie bends slightly to push in her chair. She’s close enough to smell her perfume - woodsy with slight floral notes, and despite still knowing nothing about this woman Dani can somehow tell that the fragrance fits her perfectly. 

“Thank you.” Dani gets situated at the table as Jamie sits back down and when their eyes meet, sparks fly. It’s every cliche from every romance novel and every romantic film but neither of them seems to care and Dani return’s Jamie’s warm smile. “This place is beautiful.”

Jamie looks around the restaurant and nods in agreement. “Isn’t it? I thought it might be a bit much given what today is but the food here is great so I thought why not. Ever been here before?”

“I haven’t but there are a lot of places in this city that I haven’t been to. I’ve only been here for about six months.”

“Ah, yeah…” There’s a slight glint in Jamie’s eyes as the candle in the centre of the table flickers. “Rebecca may have told me that little fact.” 

Dani begins to wonder just what else Rebecca had told Jamie about her, finding it very odd considering she had been given absolutely no information about her. “She did, did she? That Rebecca, full of surprises.”

“Oh!” There’s a sudden look of realization on Jamie’s face and she pushes her chair back a little then reaches down beneath her legs. She lifts up a small bouquet of 5 red roses and holds them out across the table for Dani to take. “Nearly forgot. These are for you. Roses, I know, a bit overdone but I’ve always thought they were beautiful...and it is Valentine’s Day.”

It’s a thoughtful and incredibly romantic gesture and it somehow feels more important than any other time in Dani’s life when she had been given flowers. She isn’t sure why that is but she reaches for the flowers and accepts them then brings them to her nose to inhale their sweet scent. She did always love roses.

“Thank you, that’s very sweet. I wish I had thought to bring something for you, I’m sorry.”

“No apology needed, Dani.” Jamie shakes her head and Dani’s eyes flick down to her lips just as she bites her bottom one slightly. “You turned up to a blind date on Valentine’s Day. That’s more than enough.”

The server approaches their table and Dani pulls her eyes from Jamie’s lips, her very kissable lips.

“Good evening ladies. Can I start you off with something to drink?”

Jamie thinks for a moment then turns to Dani. “A glass of wine?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about wine but I’m happy to get the same thing you choose,” Dani replies.

“In that case, we’ll each have a glass of the house white.”

The waiter nods, smiles, and leaves them alone once again. 

“Can I be honest with you?” Jamie turns all of her focus back to Dani, taking a deep breath and clasping her hands in front of her on the table. 

Dani eagerly smiles and places her roses in her lap. She nods her head and studies Jamie as she seems to choose her words carefully. 

“I don’t know much about wine either. I’m more of a whisky drinker.”

The admission makes Dani laugh and Jamie laughs with her. It’s gentle, easy laughter and it flows between them in the most natural way. There’s a sense of familiarity as they grin at one another, both feeling a little like they’ve known each other for years which considering they’d only just met is something that is not lost on them. 

“Why didn’t you get a glass of whisky then?” 

Jamie motions around the restaurant with her hands. “A glass of whisky in an Italian place? Might kick me to the curb if I asked for something other than fancy Italian wine. I’d need to go to a pub for a good glass of whisky.”

Dani feels a surge of confidence and she narrows her eyes, leaning forward in her seat. Something about Jamie makes her want to be bold. Something about her makes Dani want to lose all of her own inhibitions. Maybe it’s Jamie’s own confidence, which seems to be pouring out of her, or maybe it’s the way she licks her lips, anticipating Dani’s words.

“Well...I guess we’ll just have to go to a pub sometime then.”

It’s clear when Jamie’s gaze widens that whatever she had been anticipating, a proposal for a second date so soon into their first definitely was not at all one of the thoughts that crossed her mind. 

“I reckon we might.”

Flirting. Dani is flirting. Dani is flirting with a very attractive woman she had just met who seems to reciprocate said flirting and it makes her feel a little dizzy despite the fact that she’s not yet had a single drop of alcohol. She didn’t know it was possible for someone to have such an immediate effect on her but here was Jamie sitting less than a few feet away, looking at her like she’s a piece of art and she’s fairly certain that no one has ever looked at her quite the same way. 

The server returns and places a glass of wine in front of both of them and when he asks for their dinner order, they glance between each other and hide a laugh knowing they’d been so wrapped up in conversation that they’d never looked at the menu. After flipping through it quickly they each settle on some kind of pasta dish and the waiter gives them a smile and a nod then leaves their table. 

Dani glances around, beginning to truly take in the romantic setting of the restaurant, noticing couples holding hands across tables and hushed conversations, people existing in their own sweet little quiet world. When she turns back to Jamie, she feels like she’s part of one of those couples because Jamie is smiling at her again, and god, what a nice smile it was. 

Don’t get ahead of yourself, she tells herself. This is still just a blind date. A blind date with someone who makes you feel like you’re fifteen again and nervous around the cute checkout girl at the grocery store who had looked you up and down and winked. Jamie picks up her glass of wine and brings it to her lips to take a sip and Dani can’t keep herself from staring as she licks her lips then sets the glass back down.

“So...” Dani says, needing conversation to keep herself from fixating on Jamie’s lips. “What do you do for work? Rebecca might have told you a bit about me, but she did not return the favour so I don’t know a whole lot about you.”

“I’m a florist,” Jamie replies. 

“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever met a florist before. I mean...I-I have met a florist, I’ve been to flower shops and gotten flowers from florists so...so that statement is absolutely not true. I just mean that I’ve -”

“I know what you mean, Dani,” Jamie says with a bit of a laugh and Dani is thankful to have her rambling sentence get cut off. “You’d think there are tons of us everywhere but it’s actually a pretty competitive business in this city.”

“You own your own business?”

There’s a silence between them for a moment and Jamie raises her eyebrows and half-smiles, looking at Dani curiously. “You’re not jokin’, are you? Rebecca really didn’t tell you anything about me.”

Dani shakes her head and picks up her own wine glass. She takes a sip and the slight bitterness of the alcohol lingers on her tongue after she swallows. “Just your name and that she’s known you for years.”

“Feels a bit unfair on my end. She really made you out to be something special last week.”

_I probably don’t live up to your expectations and I’m not surprised. I’m not at all anything special._

“I wish she hadn’t done that,” Dani replies, looking down at the roses still placed across her lap. “I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? So far I think the Dani sitting across from me is even better than the one Rebecca described.”

There’s a tender certainty to the words and they settle in Dani’s chest, they build themselves a home within her heart and when she looks up from her lap she finds Jamie smiling with sincerity etched across her face. 

“So far I think you’re pretty great too.” They’re the only words she can bring herself to say but she means them wholeheartedly. 

“Good,” Jamie says. “I’m glad we’re both in agreement.”

Their food arrives and with it, a refill of their wine which they had finished and they settle into a comfortable conversation. Dani no longer has any nerves or anxiousness about the date because talking to Jamie seems to be easier than talking to anyone else. Her words feel safe as Jamie listens to her speak, nodding her head in agreement, completely engaged, and asking questions in a way that shows she’s genuinely interested in the current topic. 

“I’m a teaching assistant right now at one of the smaller colleges in the city. It’s how I met Rebecca actually, we work in the same department. I’m sure she mentioned that to you,” Dani says when Jamie asks her how she spends most of her time.

“She did, yeah. And what brought you across the pond? If you don’t mind my askin’ of course.”

Big question. Long answer. 

Dani thinks for a moment, wanting to respond to Jamie honestly in the most succinct and simple way she can. It was something she hadn’t thought about in a couple of months, having truly begun to feel settled and content with her life for the first time in years. She had a job, she had friends, she was finishing her education, and she was happy. Maybe, though she didn’t want to assume anything just yet, maybe that happiness could grow with Jamie in her life if she felt the same way.

“I just needed a change. Some big things happened in my life and I saw a chance to come abroad and thought, why not?” 

She picks up her wine glass and shrugs her shoulders then takes a long sip. The alcohol is beginning to make her feel a little lighter, more open, and she thinks that if Jamie were to press her more that she’d slip into her entire life’s story which is far too complicated for a blind date, even if it is with someone as utterly wonderful as Jamie is proving to be.

“Know what that’s like. Made a big change like that a number of years ago myself and it brought me to London. I’ve been here ever since, pretty happy with how my life has turned out all things considered.”

Dani smiles. “How’s your business? Do you really enjoy what you do?”

“I fucking love it. It’s challenging sometimes but all work is, even the best work.”

“I’m surprised you had the time tonight, given what day it is. Aren’t florists usually pretty busy around this time of year?”

“Good thing about being the boss,” Jamie says as she brings a forkful of pasta to her mouth. “I make my own schedule.”

“Sounds like you like being in charge,” Dani replies and as Jamie chews her food and swallows, a look of mischief flashes across her face and a playful shine seems to appear in her eyes.

“I’m very good at being in charge,” she says. “In more ways than one.”

Dani’s system nearly short circuits and images of Jamie wearing much less than she is now appears as flashes in her mind. It had been a long, long time since she had slept with anyone and she is very embarrassed by the fact that Jamie’s words and the inflection in her voice cause her to press her legs together tightly underneath the table. She swallows and she can feel a slight blush spread across the bridge of her nose.

“I have no doubt,” Dani replies.

When they finish their meal and wait for the check, Dani gets lost admiring the big floral arrangement on a nearby empty table and Jamie smiles as she watches her, noticing the soft grin on her face and a slight dusting of freckles on her cheeks.

“Want to know a secret?”

Dani looks away from the flowers, focusing on her again. “Yeah, why not.” 

“All of the flowers in here tonight? Me.”

“Really?” Dani’s eyes widen and she scans the restaurant again, noticing just how many flowers there really are. Some of the arrangements are more intricate than others, the colours vibrant and beautiful, popping with pinks and reds, greens and white and some are simple, two small flowers with some baby’s-breath in a tall thin vase placed the middle of the table beside a candle. “Wait. Did you pick this restaurant to show off your own work?”

Jamie tries to hide a sly smile but she can’t stop it from spreading across her face. “Might’ve had something to do with it, yeah. Nothin’ wrong with wanting to make myself look better in front of a date. A really beautiful date.”

“You think I’m beautiful?” 

Dani isn’t sure why she asks the question. Insecurity? Perhaps. A confidence boost? Maybe. The need for confirmation that everything she’s felt over the course of their date are things that Jamie has felt as well? The most likely culprit. 

“I think you’re gorgeous, Dani.”

The butterflies reappear in Dani’s stomach and what had been just a small blush on her nose earlier on turns into a full-fledged blush, turning her cheeks pink. She shyly glances down, truly feeling like she had all those years before as that young girl in the grocery store, discovering so many of her own feelings for the first time, discovering her attraction to women and the way it seemed to make her pulse quicken in all the right ways. 

When the cool winter air hits their skin as they step out of the restaurant onto the street, Dani instantly misses the comfort and the warmth of the little world they existed in at their table. She doesn’t want the night to end, not ready to turn and walk away from Jamie, not when she feels as though things between them are only just beginning.

“So…” Jamie stuffs her hands into the pockets of a brown suede jacket and her breath hangs in the air between them, visible in the light from above the restaurant entrance. “I had a really nice time tonight. It was...well it was brilliant, to be honest.”

Dani smiles, knowing just how many times she had done so during the course of the evening, certain she had grinned like a fool throughout most of their meal. She inhales and as her lungs expand, her confidence level does too. 

“Did you...did you maybe want to...go for a walk or something? Totally cool if you’re not into it because I know it’s getting - “

Jamie pulls one of her hands from her pocket and reaches out to take Dani’s and the sudden act causes Dani to forget the rest of whatever she was saying. She gives the hand a reassuring squeeze then links their fingers together and the physical contact sends a shiver throughout Dani’s body. Her eyes flick down to their entwined hands then back up and she locks eyes with Jamie. 

“I’d love to go for a walk.” 

They walk side by side for a while without saying anything, happy to exist in the ease and comfort they seem to share, no need to fill the silence with small talk. It’s a rarity, Dani thinks, to meet someone you feel so comfortable with this quickly. Jamie doesn’t let go of her hand until they reach the edge of the river and they stop to lean against the railing and look out across the water.

Jamie is a kind of warmth that had been missing from Dani’s life for longer than she’d like to admit and she brings the roses up to her nose again, closes her eyes, and breathes them in. She can feel Jamie standing next to her and suddenly she knows that it’s a feeling she’ll miss when it’s gone, a feeling she’s not ready to lose which is so far from anything she had expected to get out of the evening. How can you know that after spending such little time with someone? She doesn’t have an answer to her question but she’s okay with that fact. Sometimes it's nice to simply exist in a moment with someone without needing to know the how’s and the why’s. She opens her eyes, drops the flowers back to her side, and looks out at the river again.

You don’t always recognize how lonely you’ve been until someone turns up in your life who lights up the dimmest places in your soul and then it hits you like a bullet even when they’re still practically a stranger. Dani had learned to enjoy her own company and she was fine with being alone but she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t nice to have someone beside her who reminded her what it was it like to matter to another person in this way. She carried her own heart with such high regard, carried it across an ocean after it made some of the bravest decisions it ever had to but maybe it was okay to let someone else hold onto it now, okay to trust them with it. 

“I almost didn’t come inside tonight,” she says, keeping her eyes fixed on the river, on the reflection of the streetlamps that ripple across the surface of the water. 

“Why’s that?” Jamie asks.

“Fear of the unknown I guess. I don’t like not knowing what’s going to happen. I don’t like the uneasiness that comes with it.”

“Sometimes it’s worth it to take a shot. People can surprise you.”

“I didn’t even want to come on the date in the first place. I told Rebecca she was crazy when she suggested a date with a stranger. On Valentine’s Day of all days.”

“Bit wild, I know. Not your typical first date.” Jamie thinks about this for a moment. She watches Dani as Dani watches the water and she can see the wheels turning in her head, she can sense that she’s processing something and making choices. Deciding what or what not to do next. “Any regrets, though? I get it if you have some, won’t be gutted if you want to just call it right here and right now. Okay, I might be a wee bit gutted because I really did have a good time tonight. Best night I’ve had in ages to be fair.”

Dani turns around and leans back against the railing, looking at Jamie with a soft grin. An honest smile, one that might exist only for her. It seems as if their positions have switched, Dani now the confident one and Jamie the one with slight uncertainty on her face, an edge of vulnerability.

“I don’t regret a single thing,” she says and Jamie lets go of the breath she had been holding, stepping in closer to her, close enough to smell her perfume again. Closer than she’d been all night. 

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone that I’ve wanted to kiss this much,” Jamie says quietly. Her words are almost a whisper and she brings a hand up to cradle Dani’s cheek, a finger brushing across her jaw. “Is that mad?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been kissed,” Dani replies quickly without even thinking about the words as they spill from her lips and when the realization hits of what she’s just admitted, she immediately shuts her eyes and lifts a hand to cover the look of complete and utter embarrassment now on her face. So much for being the confident one. “Oh. My. God. I-I don’t know why I just said that. I was trying to be...flirty or...or smooth or something and that was just...wow, that was none of those things.”

“Dani.” Jamie laughs a little bit and Dani just shakes her head.

“No, don’t even...let’s just pretend... let’s pretend that I didn’t…”

“Dani.” Dani lowers the hand away from her face and Jamie is smiling endearingly and looking so soft, so beautiful in the golden light from the streetlight above their heads. “I’m going to kiss you now and I want to make sure that it’s alright with you.”

Dani swallows and slowly nods her head. It’s all the permission that Jamie needs and she leans in and kisses her. It’s gentle but Dani sees stars behind her eyelids and feels fireworks go off beneath her skin. Jamie’s lips are full and soft and exactly how she had imagined them to be when she had stared at them during dinner, picturing a moment, not unlike this one. It’s a first kiss pulled straight out of a fairytale and she thinks, no, she knows, that this is how a kiss should always feel. 

Neither of them knows who deepens the kiss but it grows more heated and Dani lifts her hand up and into the hair above the base of Jamie’s neck and Jamie’s free hand, the one not caressing her cheek finds a home as it grips her waist. Their bodies are flush and when Dani parts her lips, Jamie accepts the invitation and slips a tongue into her mouth. 

Dani whimpers and the sound disappears into Jamie’s hungry mouth and the grip on her waist seems to tighten, pulling her impossibly closer. Never in her life had she been kissed this way before, no kiss or touch had ever set her body ablaze the way Jamie’s does and when a need for air grows too important to ignore, she reluctantly tears her lips away but doesn’t stray far, pressing their foreheads together. Still wanting the close contact and comfort Jamie provides. People walk past them as they stand close by the river and no one bats an eye, no one questions their embrace but why would they? After all, it is Valentine’s Day. 

“Blimey,” Jamie says and it makes Dani laugh.

“Could you be any more British?” 

“Mmhmm, yeah, I could be if you wanted me to be. I...am absolutely chuffed to be here with you.” Jamie says each word with her accent overly emphasized and Dani shakes her head, laughing as she tries to pull out of her arms but she won’t let her. “I’m chuffed that my mate told me all about a fit blonde with a gorgeous smile and this whole night has just been bloody brilliant.” 

“Oh god,” Dani groans. “It’s too much. I don’t know if I can handle it.”

“You sure? I can keep going if you fancy it.”

She can’t wait anymore, can’t keep her eyes from drifting down to Jamie’s lips. Those sweet, addicting lips that are just begging to be kissed again, lips that Dani can’t get enough of now. She swiftly spins Jamie, pinning her against the railing beside them and she swears she hears her squeal in surprise but the sound gets lost as she kisses her. It’s without a doubt one of the boldest things she’s ever done, not caring about how she looks or how desperate it might seem, simply following her heart and going after what she wants. 

When she finally pulls her lips away from Jamie’s, she watches as her eyelids flutter open to reveal sparkling eyes, ones that somehow seem even more beautiful than they had in the restaurant. 

“Will you be my Valentine?”

It’s a cheesy question but after such a wonderful night on such a romantic day, it feels like the only question worth asking. Jamie narrows her eyes and stares blankly as though she’s truly thinking about the question and considering her answer. Dani almost wonders if she might refuse the trivial proposal but then the blank look changes to a hopeful one. 

“Only if you promise to get that glass of whisky with me.”

Dani smiles again and her heart feels warm, safe, full. “It’s a date.”

So, maybe Rebecca had been right and Dani would need to thank her for it. Maybe she did deserve a chance to be happy and maybe Jamie was that chance. Maybe a blind date on Valentine's day wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to a person. She had taken a leap and Jamie had caught her. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Dani.”


End file.
